Even if it is a Dream
by Ameftowriter
Summary: "Say uhh… Byakuya…" Five-year old Senku reached out to his Byakuya's hand, "Do you think there will ever be a time where we could both… reach for the moon?" (EDITED)


"Say uhh… Byakuya…" Five-year old Senku reached out to his Byakuya's hand, "Do you think there will ever be a time where we could both… reach for the moon?"

Byakuya looked back at his son. The child, who recently decided to devote his life to science, looked at him with an earnest yet innocent look, typical for a boy his age.

He smiled as he held his son's hand, and cradled it with as much love and care as he could give to him "To tell you the truth… I really hope so."

Senku didn't respond back, instead he inched himself closer to the man he now called father.

—

Senku just threw himself to science. He would learn and take in everything his still yet developing mind could. Biology, chemistry, physics, mechanics, astronomy, hell even the complicated ones like quantum physics, he took them all in and held onto them as if it were his lifeline. He would experiment on every machine he could get his hands on (and what his dad allowed him to), even at an old cellphone that was thrown out in the trash, or even his own PSP, until it was broken beyond repair. After he finally understood those little machines, he moved on to more complicated things. But instead of tearing them apart and testing everything, he was building a new one. Something that, definitely a seven-year old shouldn't have the knowledge to do so, a rocket.

But of course doing so, tired the poor boy out. He never had that much stamina in the first place. Concentrating and putting his rocket together was a lot of work, even with the help from Taiju. So when he decided he was done for the night, he stood up, cleaned up his mess and walked towards his telescope, the one that his dad gave him a couple of years ago for Christmas.

He would use it to observe and study the stars.

Sometimes if they were close enough, he could even see the planet Jupiter or even Saturn.

Tonight was one of the nights that the sky was clear and not a cloud was at sight. Senku would look at those celestial bodies from hours on end.

—-

"789,215,770 seconds since I was petrified…. Roughly twenty-five years since then. I need to keep counting these seconds in order to figure out the seasons. It's menial and painful as hell but, I have no choice but to keep pressing forward, otherwise… otherwise…"

If Senku could shed a tear he could, but he couldn't even feel his own heartbeat, nor his lungs take in air. So he kept counting and counting and counting and counting…..

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…."

And counting and counting and counting…..

—

Senku saw stars… he was surrounded by stars… so many stars. He felt himself floating at the vastness of space surrounded by its vacuum darkness and its spots of light, formed by floating flaming balls of various gases and minerals. He thought it was impossible, as he felt that he was still wearing his usual outfit. The one he made out of deerskin about a year and so ago when he broke out of petrification. He couldn't be floating in space. Otherwise his body would have frozen up and died right there and then. So he concluded that this must be a dream, a scenario formed by his mind during the stage of REM sleep. He never really fought any of his dreams. He's had his fair share of good and bad ones, but he would always conclude that they were all his thoughts that formed scenes for him. Sometimes they help him with his science, sometimes it reminds him of his failures…

Sometimes…

The star in front of him, a star that shone brighter than any star he has ever seen in his life flashed and twinkled like he had never seen before. But before he could process any of that, another image formed in front of him. It was the moon.

And in front of the moon…

Was his father.

The man who cared for him when no one else could...

His father… Byakuya…

He saw his father reach out to him. He extended his hand to reach for his beloved son, Senku. So he could, like many times before, hold it with such warmth and love, that alone could fill the young man with it for the longest time.

So he did.

Senku reached out to his father's hand. To his father.

But as he slowly, so slowly reached out to him, his father's image blurred. He tried to extend further but the harder he did, the fuzzier the image was.

And then everything around him went white.

—

Senku Ishigami woke up from this dream.

It's been many nights since then. Since he has heard the truth about his father, his friends, and their fate along with the village's true purpose.

There are times where he would have this dream. It was the same dream. He would reach out for his father, who would then disappear as he did. He should have learned not to do that anymore, and yet he still does.

He's shed many silent tears along with it, and at times an ache in his heart as well.

So he would then sit up next to his telescope that was gifted to him by the village that he sought to grow and protect with his very life, crafted by his new found friends, and look up to the stars.

Sometimes he would look for Jupiter, or Saturn if he is lucky.

But most of the time, he would look for the moon. As he hoped that one day, one day he would reach for it.

For himself and for his dad.


End file.
